Penmen’s 6-3-2 record dropped after facing the Western New England University Team

The Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) men’s hockey team defeated Franklin Pierce University 8-1 on Saturday, December 1 at The Ice Den Arena in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

The Penmen currently stand with a 6-3-2 record. Freshman Forward Jake Cox has garnered over a point every game with fourteen points in eleven games. Senior Forward Brett Strawn has four goals and five assists for nine points in 11 games.

Junior Goaltender Kurt Gutting and Freshman Goaltender JT Kossakowski have highly contributed to the team’s winnings these past games. Gutting holds a 4-1-2 record with a save percentage of .928 and 2.38 GAA (goals against average). Kossakowski is 1-2 with a .945 save percent average and a GAA (goals against average) of 2.27.

Freshman Andy Somerville, who scored two goals on last Saturday’s game, was recognized by the Northeast-10 Conference as the “Rookie of the Week” for the week of December 4.

“Our record has us sitting at the top of the NE-10 standings going into break. We still have a lot of hockey left to be played though,” commented Team Captain Chris Moquin, a graduate student, when asked about the current position of the team.

“Our biggest game so far has been our win against the nationally ranked UMASS Boston, but I like to think that our biggest game is always the next one,” says Chris Moquin.

The Penmen faced the 3-10 Western New England University team Friday, December 7 in their final game of the year. Despite strong performances from Sophomores Kyle Galloway and Max Kent, the Penmen suffered a 4-1 defeat to the Golden Bears.

In spite of this loss, the Penmen stepped off the ice to a formal celebration to welcome a new player to the team. They welcomed 11 year-old Cohl Capparelli from Exeter, NH on December 7. Capparelli is a hockey afficiando who suffers from spinal muscular athrophy. He joined the team through Team IMPACT.

After the celebration, Cohl went home with a goalie stick signed by everyone in the team and a pair of SNHU men’s ice hockey jerseys.

The Penmen team will return to frozen action next year on Saturday, January 12, when they open the second half of the season at Becker College at 7:00 p.m.